ups and united way

[proups]

ok2 & trick: you like to call names and make assumptions about people, so allow me to lay out some facts for you.

ok2 - you are a FT Center Clerk in Michigan. You were a driver, but due to an injury and the ADA, the company has accomodated you. I only know this because you have posted this information. I make no other assumptions nor do I voice any opinion about you personally.

trick: you are a Feeder Driver, whose profile reads: "treat others as you would like to be treated." When will you start doing that....or do you want me to insult your intelligence like you do mine?

You both have your right to your opinions. I am pro-company, because I look at everything I have and am thankful for it. I don't spend time second guessing a company that has provided so well for me, especially when my I have friends that are much less fortunate - like my best friend who is a hard working mechanic in the airline industry and is worried every week if he still has a job. His hours have been cut back so much that he took a part time job to make ends meet. Do either of you see that in your future?

But I regress......so here is another fact: FT union employees at UPS are not the people that make up the majority of the contributors to the UPS United Way campaign, and I think that is a shame. That is a statistic both of you can get if you ask your local management team. Then you will realize that the quest to get back at the company during the United Way campaign by whoever does it isn't working. As I have stated before, I work with my local United Way, believe in what they are doing for the community, and I contribute through the company.

If you think that makes me a bad or stupid person, shame on you!

 

[over9five]

"...I think that is a shame."

Why? You don't know us at all. There is more to life than UPS. Many of us contribute to charities WE choose, instead of charities our workplace would like to choose for us.

I contribute regularly to Girl Scouts and Special Olympics. When I asked UPS to match my check that I was presenting to them, the answer was "NO.....Unless you do it through United Way". I think THAT was a shame.

 

[ok2bclever]

Well, actually the company "let me go", they didn't accomodate me.

I had gone through recovery and work hardening from my back injury.

They had built me up where I could lift the 70 lb packages and whatnot again and I had tried to come back as a driver.

My back started hurting on the first day banging down the roads and steadily went downhill until I was unable to finish the day Thurday and they put me back off.

Liberty Mutual called and scheduled a guy to come to my home without any pre-warning about what it was about from Liberty Mutual or UPS and set me down at my dining room table and calmly and matter of factly told me in front of my wife and young daughter that at nineteen years my career with the company was over and that I had worked my last day for UPS.

I asked if my center manager knew about this and the guy told me yes, he was originally supposed to attend this home meeting, but he had to stay and attend a morning telephone conference call (you know the all important one they have every single day).

He never intended to come is the truth, let a stranger pull the trigger, much easier.

That impersonal, that cold, no one from UPS told me a thing.

I went to the Teamster Union local and talked with the BA, he interceded and got me back to work.

Which is the primary reason I want to slap anyone who ignorantly says the union is worthless and never does anything by the way.

I am glad for you if UPS has always treated you well and thoughtful and kindly, but you are an anomally.

My job status as full-time center clerk is correct and probably accurate about trick although you want to be carefull believing profiles.

What I don't get is why a guy as 100 percent positive as you always always are is so ashamed of whatever you actually do for UPS that you resolutely ignore any question about your position with the company to the point of not even admitting whether you are management or not.

You have the right to your opinions, I just don't have to agree with them or stay silent about them.

I have pulled your chain a few times, but I wouldn't consider I called you "names".

I don't really care if I irritated you, your fully non-real world happy happy every post does that to me a lot so we are even, but I apologize if I hurt your feelings.

 

[proups]

over9five: I think it is a shame that a group of people that is paid so well (FT union employees)uses the United Way campaign as a vehicle to get back at UPS. That is what this thread is about, not that FT union employees don't contribute to charity.

I commend you on your choice for charitable contributions. As for UPS matching your contributions dollar for dollar, the company has a gift matching program, but it is for educational and cultural institutions - not non-profits. You can find out more on UPSers.com

It's too bad that whoever told you that UPS would not match your charitable contributions gave you that response. The United Way that I work with gives money to the Girl Scouts for some of their programs, but they do not fund the Special Olympics. The agencies that get funded differ from one United Way to the next, and depends on the needs of the community.

 

[proups]

ok2: that was a very poor way to handle your situation with your back. The union may have interceded to get you working again, but the company would call it a accommodation so they can fill it with two part-timers when you retire.

I didn't say anything about calling names. I said that I had never posted anything about you personally. In your earlier post, you said: "You have some serious issues." I don't insult you, and I expect the same. I don't mind you jerking my chain when it is in fun (as we have done before with the signature lines), but that took it a little too far.

Here is something else:
"What I don't get is why a guy as 100 percent positive as you always always are is so ashamed of whatever you actually do for UPS that you resolutely ignore any question about your position with the company to the point of not even admitting whether you are management or not."

Why is that so important? This is a message board. It is about opinions. I voice mine. I read yours. We agree and disagree with each other. That is as far as I have to carry it on this board.

"I don't really care if I irritated you, your fully non-real world happy happy every post does that to me a lot so we are even, but I apologize if I hurt your feelings."

I am pro-company. No doubt about it. Does that make me happy with every decision? No. Does that mean that I have to rant and rave about it? No. Does that make me "non real world happy happy"? No! I just come to work every day, do my job, and go home.

Thanks for contributing to the United Way.

 

[carrie]

I'm a former OMS. I was with UPS for 13 years. THe first 12 years were spent working in business development as an admin (the last position was as sales lead coordinator). I loved it. There was a consolidation of the preferred customer dept and I was bumped from my job by one of the preferred associates (she had 10 years on me). I took an OMS job because there was nothing available in bus. dev., and I wanted to stay @ UPS no matter what. I had no idea what I was getting into.

The drivers are/were awesome. I gained even more respect for them. I was appalled @ how horribly they were treated by full-time management. Then again, I was treatment horribly by the center manager (she was a true sociopath), so I could relate. I never understood how treating people like they were cattle could result in anything good. My drivers would thank me for treating them nicely. I was alway so amazed by that as why wouldn't I treat with respect?

Anyway, I've moved on to another company (a huge UPS customer). But I still miss my pre-hub life. I'm angry about what happened to me. I miss my friends so very much. Yet, the OMS job was sucking the life out of me (they don't even train you!). I also couldn't stand working around such unhappy people.

You drivers rock! I still ship UPS. You take the girl out of UPS, but you can't take UPS out of the girl.

Carrie

 

[ok2bclever]

No, they did not accomodate me with a full-time clerk position.

I was the scraps dog for about six years and did whatever they gave me on whatever shift or combination of shifts.

My current position of full-time clerk came about much later as a seniority bid issue.

They have bid two other full-time clerk positions, both with far less seniority than me since and I could have taken either of those, but I like my hours.

The position will stand beyond me.

As far as the "serious issues" statement the whole post is basically tongue in cheek and I just ran out of smiley faces.

I will say you caused me actual physical pain trying to control the belly laugh (just had emergency appendectomy surgery on Tuesday)when I realized that your statement about dishonest management should be held accountable was you best shot at a non-pro-company statement and you were being earnest.

That isn't a nonpro company statement, that is the simple, ethical truth.

But it does speak volumes.

Live well, I will try for patience as you are obviously sincere, not kissbut or ladder aspiring.

 

[over9five]

Thank you, Carrie. It's good to hear a third party (not management, not driver) account of how we're treated.

 

[tieguy]

"So don't try to project a negative or trouble maker attitude on me I only call it as it is and react when management does something wrong."

And you thought it appropriate to throw away your twenty year award? You thought throwing it away was an appropriate response? I would easily label such an action one done by a negative employee or troublemaker.

 

[boswharfs]

proups,
Your statement about the rightness of firing unethical employees was not the point of my post at all. There is not a person on this planet, (including the most out of line management), that would support that position in this situation. My point was-- I may not be able to "tell you a story about any management person who has lost his/her job for not making their united way goal", but I can tell you a story of one for whom the pressure or incentive was high enough for him to do what I described. There would have been no point for him to do it if it didn't matter or there wasn't something for him (positive/negative) on the other end. Stating the obvious- that he should have been fired - is a distraction.

 

[upsdude]

I cant speak as a management person at UPS. I can speak as a former management person in another occupation. The company, a defense contractor, employed 20,000 in one location. I was instructed (sound familiar? LOL) to have a donation from every employee under my supervision, that meant reach in your pocket.

 

[speeddemon]

Thanks Carrie

 

[dannyboy]

I want to thank you too Carrie. I just wish the rest of the naughty children would behave like you.

But I am ashamed of drivers that use something good like the united way for their own personal gain, even though only in their mind.

In the past management here had put a lot of pressure on the drivers and part timers to donate. To the point that the drivers just about quit giving. And that is a shame too.

Give because it is the right thing to do, not to impress someone else.

d

 

[trickpony1]

Dannyboy,
What would you think of a hub that gave front row assigned parking spaces to persons who donate alot of money and second row assigned parking spaces to those who donate slightly less money to the UW?
All this time I thought a person was supposed to donate out of the kindness of their heart and because "it is the right thing to do" not because they would get a prime assigned parking space.
This offended many people who may not be donating anymore.

 

[dannyboy]

I would be ashamed of both offering or accepting such. Both parties should be ashamed to use the united way this way. But unfortunatly that is the way it is these days.

I prefer the "let not your left hand know what the right doeth" way of giving.

Those that give to recieve recognition or awards get their just reward now. I am a long term investor myself.

d

 

[switchoff]

Heck, if I could get primo parking for an extra few bucks a week, I'd do it. And if that money went to charity, then there's an added benefit.

It's a far walk to the back parking lot, espcecially in the winter.

 

[ok2bclever]

tie, who cares what you think? Not I.

I can picture you as one of the dull brute faces in the office that would not think twice about it being incredibly inappropriate and callous timing to give a warning letter (also a first in two decades and the only one by the way to date) for a petty false claim on the same day and morning that they were supposedly recogizing my two decades of service.

I had no use or stomach for a glued tin and wood award originally designed by real men like Jim Casey for real appreciation being given under those classless and false conditions by a bunch of shallow bozos who obviously didn't mean any of it.

They are all gone now, some retired, several fired, err, let go for personal reasons I mean and I am still here doing the job.

That was probably too blunt, but between the pain and narcotics I truly am not in the mood to suffer fools or enemies.

Carrie,

I agree with the others, what a great attitude.

Hats off for having the courage to leave and to leave the negative attitudes with the appropriate management individuals and not the company as a whole.

I wish you great luck in the rest of your life, but with your attitude I doubt if you will need much.

 

[proups]

Parking spaces for United Way contributions? Bad deal.

I agree with Dannyboy in his posts....they seem to convey the same point I am trying to make.

boswharfs: I am sorry if I distracted you with the truth.

upsdude: if you reached in your own pocket to donate for one of your employees, you are as guilty as the manager described in this thread by boswharfs that forged a signature.

 

[upsdude]

Proups............

I did reach in my pocket and each employee was told in advance a donation would be made in their name.

Let me state my position on this (UPS/United Way). Using the UW as a "negotiating tool" is wrong. Choosing another means of giving money to charity is a personal choice.

 

[upsdude]

parking spaces..........

Raffle tickets were sold in our building for 2 spots right outside the door. The spots were to be good for the following year. Both of the winners spent $150.00 each for tickets. One month after winning the spots a new division manager pulled the parking spaces. Both of the "winners" still have a very bad taste in the mouth.

Yes, the proceeds went to the United Way.

(Message edited by upsdude on August 22, 2005)